And even this is kind of BS. They were always marketed as a mainstream hard rock band and that's what they've always been. They were never meant to be an alternative or avant garde band pushing their artistic limits at all times.
I think it just came from a bit too much overplay of their early hits, then their type of music (along with Creed) became heavily copied filling the mainstream airwaves at the time. After the market got saturated with bands going for that sound, there was a bit of backlash against Nickelback and Creed as the early faces of that generic mainstream hard rock sound.
I'll admit I bought into the "hate Nickelback" hype at times, but really it's just lazy. I don't really like most of their music, but I could say the same can be said about 90% of the music that makes the radio nowadays so "hating" them because of it seems just stupid and lazy.
I've settled on cheering on a group of guys from Alberta that found a way to be very successful at what they do and good for them. Still won't buy any of their music or tickets though.